


Catching Feelings

by iblewupavan



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Baseball, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Fuckbuddies, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:01:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26133892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iblewupavan/pseuds/iblewupavan
Summary: Ian just wants to get a baseball scholarship and get out of the shitty South Side, but will the fresh out of juvie Mickey Milkovich, who just wants to wing shit till he turns 18, keep him for reaching those goals? Or will they both realize that they could help each other along the way?
Relationships: Ian Gallagher & Mickey Milkovich, Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich
Comments: 12
Kudos: 27
Collections: Gallavich Prompt - Enemies To Lovers Challenge





	Catching Feelings

**Author's Note:**

> Hiiii I'm so excited to share this fic with everyone I hope you enjoy! Also a huge thank you to my beta and twin sister jaz aka [WitchBitxh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WitchBitxh).

It was a Wednesday, Baseball season had just started back up, and they were having their first practice of the season. 

Ian walked over towards the catcher box, dressed in his catcher gear, downing the rest of his water before putting his glove on and getting into position. As he crouched down, he connected his green eyes with _the new pitcher's_ sparkling blue ones _._

Since last season ended, Coach appeared to have recruited a new pitcher, Mickey Milkovich.

Before Mickey went to juvie for a year, he was one of those guys you'd see around the halls during class or under the bleachers smoking weed, or not even in the vicinity of the school.

Ian Gallagher, the South Side Phoenix's best catcher, had been on the baseball team for three years now, since his Freshman year. His grades were as good as he could get them. Getting A's and B's on nearly every report card, with a C in math, but we don't need to talk about that. As long as his grades were good and he kept up his amazing baseball streak, getting a scholarship would be a piece of cake.

Ian made sure their eyes stayed connected like he always did with the last pitcher, Nate, but he graduated last school year. 

Right before Ian gave the signal, Mickey lifted his right knee towards his stomach and launched the ball, hard.

Ian moved his hand slightly to the right. The ball flew right past his hand and struck him right on his dick.

"What the fuck!" Ian lost his balance, throwing his right arm back to stop him from falling on his ass.

Mickey snickered at the fumbling redhead.

"Aye, Milkovich, wait for Gallagher's signal and try aiming for the mitt next time," Coach yelled at the new pitcher.

Ian grabbed the ball that assaulted him and hurled it back at the boy with the baseball cap, which cast a shade over his smirk ridden face. 

The rest of practice went by with more misses than hits. Nearing the end, Mickey actually started catching onto Ian's signals.

When practice was over, most of the guys headed home, some went and took showers. Ian utilized the showers after school so he didn't run up the water bill at home.

Ian saw Mickey rummaging through his locker as he hastily made his way to Coach's office.

Once Ian made it into his office, he cracked the door, leaving it slightly ajar. "There has to be someone else who can pitch for us."

Baseball was Ian's only shot at getting a scholarship and his only way of getting out of this place. He wasn't gonna let some new teammate ruin that for him.

"No can do kiddo. He was recommended to me by a close friend and he's got one hell of an arm." Coach responded as he started packing up his bag.

"But-."

His coach stopped packing and put his hands on his hips. "Milkovich!" Coach shouted, alerting Mickey.

Mickey headed into his office with a white towel wrapped around his waist.

Ian took in Mickey's toned body before quickly turning his attention back to their coach. Just because Mickey seemed like a dick doesn’t mean Ian can’t check him out, 'cause, hey, a nice body is a nice body.

Coach let out a sigh before he spoke, "You two obviously didn't connect as easily as I had hoped. Well, I have a solution for that, sorta." He stated before turning his attention fully to Ian. "Your sister throws that cookout at the beginning of each season, right?"

"Yeah, this Saturday actually."

Coach nodded at his catcher and turned his head to his new pitcher. "That’s right before our next practice. Great, well, you make sure your ass is there and no funny business, I don't want you getting thrown back in juvie for violating probation, Allison would make sure I never hear the end of it." He finished packing up and stated one last thing before leaving his office, "I just want you guys to talk and connect. Maybe go through some signals? Okay? Okay." 

Mickey and Ian watched as their coach left them alone in his office. 

That shouldn’t be hard, right? All they had to do was find one thing they both had in common. 

They had left one by one into the apparently empty locker room.

Mickey made his way to one of the polled showers, as he pulled off his towel, throwing it in his locker.

Ian took off his gear before he went to another pole slightly farther from Mickey. He turned the knob and let the water run against his face.

"Shit, this has better water pressure than I thought," Mickey stated, dragging the bar of soap along his body.

Ian glanced at Mickey before turning back to the showerhead, "Yeah, uh, why'd you throw the ball at my dick? You're supposed to throw it at my mitt," Ian inquired as he pushed the wet hair out of his face.

"Not really in the mood for chit chat while my dicks out, you maybe wanna wait?" Mickey responded.

They quickly finished their showers and headed over to their lockers to dry off and get dressed. Ian asked his question again.

"Well, _Gallagher_ , I was just throwing it to throw it, with power and all that shit." The older boy explained, tossing his bag over his shoulder, "You heard Coach, I'm just doing this shit to stay out of juvie." 

Ian blew out his cheeks and raised his eyebrows at Mickey's last statement then turned to his locker to pack his bag.

Mickey headed for the door and shouted one last remark, "Also, you could've tried to catch it."

At that, Ian let out the largest eye roll and mumbled under his breath, “Dickhead."

* * *

Fiona was making a large pan of baked spaghetti that should last them a couple of days. "Were gonna have more food this year, so feel free to let your teammates know they can invite more family this time."

Ian was sitting at the counter as Fiona made dinner. "Okay," he muttered as he finished up his math homework, which took him way too long to finish in his opinion. 

Ian took out his Chemistry textbook and began studying before Carl came through the front door dragging Frank with him, causing a lot of commotion and yelling from Lip and Fiona.

"Hey Fi, I'm gonna head out. I need some quietness to study."

Fiona just waved him off, not listening to a word he said.

* * *

Ian made his way through the ripped open fence surrounding the baseball field.

He kept hearing the gate shake and then a thud. Ian turned towards the sound, his eyes landing on no one other than Mickey Milkovich.

Ian threw his bookbag onto a bench before he made his way to the gate, Mickey's back facing him. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Mickey spun around with his guard up to find the source that broke his "silence". He let out a breath and loosened his stance once he realized it was the redhead from his team instead of some fucking junky. 

"The fuck does it look like," Mickey answered, bending down to pick up the baseball as it hit his foot.

"Yeah, no shit. Why are you here so late?"

Mickey sighed, walking towards the dugouts. "I could ask you the same thing, Gallagher."

Ian was turning to Mickey, as the older boy stepped into the light. His lip was busted open, his right eye was bruised, and his right cheek had a cut about an inch long.

Ian reached out and grabbed Mickey's arm to stop him as he tried to frantically move out of the light. "Holy fuck, what happened to you?" Ian asked in a hushed whisper as he looked over Mickey's face.

Mickey ripped his arm from Ian's strong grip. "It's nothing. I gotta go,” Mickey said quietly, turning away from him.

Ian gripped his shoulder, turning him around. "Sit on the bench, I think I got a First-Aid Kit in my bag."

Mickey glared at him as he looked through his bag. "You carry a fucking First-Aid Kit with you," Mickey grumbled.

"You never know what could happen. Like, now, for instance. Now sit down." Ian went over to his bag to grab the kit as Mickey sat down. He took an antiseptic wipe out of the pack and gently gripped Mickey's chin, tilting his head up. Mickey's eyes went to Ian's shoulder as he dabbed at the cut across his cheek, Mickey let out a hiss through gritted teeth.

"That shit fucking burns!"

"Well, would you rather I pour tap water on your face?"

Mickey turned his glare from Ian's shoulder to his eyes, connecting their gaze.

"Then stop being a pussy." 

Mickey slapped Ian's firm stomach with the back of his hand in retaliation. He let it rest there for a second longer than he probably should've.

Mickey’s mouth fell open when Ian’s eyes shifted to his busted lip. He used the rest of the wipe to clean up most of the wound before removing his hand from Mickey’s face and himself from Mickey’s space to grab another wipe.

“The fuck happened to you anyway?” Ian wondered again, walking back to Mickey

“Look, man, it’s nothing. We done here?” Mickey deflected, scratching his temple as he averted his eyes from Ian.

“Yeah, yeah. I mean I was gonna bandage you up-.”

“Nah, It’s fine. I’ve dealt with worse.”

“Worse?”

Mickey nodded, standing up, “We done?”

Ian realized that Mickey wasn’t gonna be opening up to him, at least not right now. “Yeah.”

Mickey made his way out of the dugout while Ian fell to the bench and got back to his books.

* * *

Mickey hopped the gate into his backyard. As he approached his bedroom window a redhead popped in front of it, scaring the shit out of him.

Sandy had been staying at Mickey’s house for about a week now after her dad had a breakdown about her mom leaving them for the fifth time this year. The Milkovich house was most definitely not the best option but it was her only option.

“Jesus Fuck!” Mickey exclaimed in a hushed whisper, fists clenched.

Sandy snickered at him before opening up his window, “Pussy.”

“Shut the fuck up, bitch,” Mickey grumbled after catching his breath, hoisting himself up through his window.

He stumbled into his room, landing on his bed.

Sandy threw a frozen pack of peas at Mickey’s chest. She clambered onto his bed to lay directly against the wall.

Mickey held the makeshift ice pack to his chest with one hand as he tore off his shoes with the other. He turned and laid back on his bed with a sigh, placing the pack on his face, the cold sensation feeling amazing on his throbbing cheek.

“He asleep or did he go back out?” 

“He started drinking straight from the bottle and then passed out. There’s a huge ass puddle of vodka by his head on the floor.”

About a year ago, Terry went out on a run and was supposed to be gone for the whole weekend. But that just wasn’t the case.

Mickey had it all planned out in his head. He would wait until Saturday, at least 24 hours from when Terry had left, so he was positive it would just be him and his siblings. 

He was gonna tell them he was gay. 'Cause their reactions he could handle. Terry’s? Mickey has witnessed a few of Terry’s violent fag bashes so it seemed like the easiest way to avoid that. So he waited it out.

Well, he thought he did.

_His siblings were in the kitchen, sitting at the table. Mickey’s back was turned to the living room and he was so nervous, he didn’t even hear the front door open._

_Mickey let out a long exhale before he spoke, “I’m into guys.”_

_Which then Iggy replied with after a short moment of silence, “Like you’re bi?”_

_“No, not like I’m bi. Jesus- I’m gay, alright. Just guys, no girls.” Mickey let out a frustrated sigh and then all the energy in the room shifted._

_Everyone’s eyes left Mickey and were stuck on something behind him. Before Mickey had a chance to turn around, he was being dragged by the back of his shirt and thrown into a wall._

_The whole moment felt like a blur to Mickey after his head hit the wall. Colin and Jamie got Terry off of Mickey while Mandy and Iggy helped their brother out of the house._

_Mickey stumbled away somewhere, got into a brawl, then ended up punching a cop which led to his arrest._

Mickey let out a long exhale, “That’s good.”

Sandy looked over at Mickey with an empathetic expression and took in Mickey’s cleaned up face. “Who cleaned you up?”

“The team's catcher.”

Sandy snickered as she realized who Mickey was talking about.

“The fuck are you laughing at?”

“Ian Gallagher?” Mickey nodded. “You know he’s gay right?” 

“Go to sleep.”

“What? I’m just fucking around,” she exclaimed. “He’s pretty smart. We have a few classes together.”

“Oh really? Good for the both of you. Now go the fuck to sleep.” Mickey mumbled as he rolled over onto his stomach to get comfortable, wrapping his arms around his pillow. Falling asleep instantly.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!! The next update should be out within the next week/week in a half.
> 
> Follow me on my [Twitter!](https://twitter.com/madlymonaghan)


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